Opening Doors For Colne

Open Door is well known in Colne for its welcoming café just off the high street. Serving economical, nutritious food – most of it grown in the charity’s own allotment, it’s a firm favourite for hearty meals that don’t break the bank, or just a quick cuppa to perk you up. However, a lot of people don’t realise there’s more going on beyond the café, with the four members of staff, Catrina, Fauve, Gary and manager Nick, supporting over a thousand people each year with much more than the occasional brew.

“We have a counselling service upstairs which provides free and unlimited counselling.” Nick explains. “Counselling is Monday-Friday and then Saturday morning, that’s over 400 hours a month of free counselling that we can provide for our community.”

“We also have peer support groups at the centre – a self-harm support group, Men’s Den, a ladies’ support group, a hoarding support group where we can also offer practical support.” Nick came to Open Door a year ago, having worked in NHS mental health services previously. He was familiar with the charity’s work, both through the NHS and his own volunteering with Men’s Den.

“I set up the men’s peer support group up here due to my friend passing away. It knocked me for six when he died because there was no inkling he’d ever take his own life, so that had a profound effect on me. We set up Men’s Den, a specifically male peer support group, on a Wednesday, that’s now a group in its own right, it has 13 lads a week coming to it. It’s still going strong.” As well as counselling and peer support, anyone can drop into the Open Door café and ask for help.

With the café open 9am-4pm Monday to Friday, the centre provides a space for people to reach out if they are in crisis. Along with people seeking help on benefit forms, Ukrainian refugees seeking support and elderly people needing a warm space and friendly face, Nick explains that most people who are seeking help are struggling with food poverty.

“Somebody can come in here for a multitude of things and get their advice and problems solved in one place”

“Food poverty is real concern in Pendle, Waterside where the centre is based is in the bottom 2% for deprivation in the country. The year of Covid we created 90 food parcels for our community, last year we did 274 and we hit 508 at the end of October, so we’ll probably double the amount we did last year this year.” The staff at the Open Door Centre seem keen to help anyone and everyone who passes through the door, and, due to the different services they offer, they can help with a multitude of problems.

“We have a sort of blanket approach to people who need our support,” Nick explains. “Somebody can come in here for a multitude of things and get their advice and problems solved in one place. Someone can come in for a food parcel, they can speak to one of our support workers, they can signpost them onto a group where they can get friends at peer support groups or have social inclusion at the garden, we can offer them counselling. And a lot end up wanting to volunteer. We can also help them with housing issues –I haven’t got a magic drawer with a load of keys in, but I can ring landlords up or get them viewings. We have volunteers who can help those without capabilities.”

The charity is well-engrained in the community of Colne with many locals turning to the centre when things get tough. “1,470 people came to us last year for support, and 1,260 of those people said their problems were solved, which is an incredible ratio,” Nick beams. As well as day-to-day support, Open Door provides Christmas hampers to families with children who might not get anything for Christmas.

“1,470 people came to us last year for support, and 1,260 of those people said their problems were solved”

“Each year we receive referrals from schools, colleges, women’s refuges, NHS teams and other charities such as Home-start and Young Carers, for our Christmas Hampers. These hampers are made up of toys, gifts and Christmas food items, which are provided to families, individuals and children who have been identified as at risk of not getting anything or very little from Santa at Christmas.”

“Last year saw us provide the most hampers in our charity’s history. A whopping 226 children received presents off Santa. Alongside this,115 families who were identified as severely marginalised received Christmas Food Hampers and 46 teenagers received gift sets and other Christmas gifts.

“We have local agencies, shops and local residents who donate, there’s little old women who knit us scarves and hats and baby clothes for dolls as well! We categorise them when they come in so we can best allocate them to the right ages and sexes of the children, if we can’t, we get family games so the whole family can sit down and play together.”

This year, Open Door is expecting more families will be referred for support due to the cost-of-living crisis, and the charity needs your help to make a child’s Christmas. Colne Open Door is gratefully accepting donations of – new boxed toys, gift sets, Christmas chocolates, Christmas related foods.

Please drop off all donations at the Colne Open Door Centre. If you would like to donate to Open Door, volunteer with them, or are in crisis and need help, visit the community café at 1 Great George Street, Colne, call 01282 860 342 or email manager@opendoorcentre.org

ColneLife Winter 2022